Welcoming Families From Around the World

ECE professionals have taught children from all various cultures and backgrounds. It is important to have the physical learning environment full of enrichment and meaningful materials that children have access to at all times.  When  children are from a different country, I would want them to feel comfortable in my classroom. For example, this blog assignment is to choose a country  and describe how will I make the child and the family feel at home. 
The country I decide to discuss is Dominica also know as "The Nature Island". Dominica is the sister nation to Dominican Republic.  English is the official language along with Creole, and Kokoy. The religion background is Roman Catholic in Dominica which can be similar to some of the students in the classroom. The  five ways I would culturally responsive towards the family are the following:

• Give the family a bio about me. By giving the family information my experience in teaching and  my personal information(married, with child, degree in Education etc) will make a difference because the family can get to know how I am. 
• Ask the family to come in for a tour of my classroom aka meet and greet. By requesting a tour of the classroom, the family will know of me prior to school starting, able to review the daily classroom schedule and then I will be able to answer any questions from the parents. 
• I will have a parent educational packet available for the parents at the meet and greet. The parent educational packet will include materials of the local child care resources and referral agency, information on inclusion services(if needed) hearing, vision, dental screening (form 3300 or Bright Futures information) local doctors, schools, and activities. 
• I will have the parents complete a toddler resume. The toddler resume includes the likes, dislikes of the child- what they like to eat, are they a morning personal etc. This way I can know the child a little bit better prior to school starting. 

• I will have the learning environment such as real and found materials that represent Dominica and other cultures. I will discuss with the parents if they want to include the common vocabulary words in Creole and I can have the English translation in the class where all can benefit.   

This will benefit myself and the family because I am starting with effective communication with the family. By including the family into the classroom environment, and explaining the classroom operations along with the parental education this will be a successful transition for the child. 

Resources:
(© 2013 )Discover Dominica Authority Retrieved from http://www.dominica.dm/index.php

http://earlyyearsfm.com/easy-enrollment/Social%20Resume-PreschoolToddler.pdf